Star Bulk Carriers Corp.

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Star Bowl Carriers Conference Call on the Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results. We have with us Mr. Petros Papaz, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hamish Norton, President, Mr. Simo Spiro, and Mr. Christos Begleros, Co-Chief Financial Officers, Mr. Nikos Resko, Chief Operating Officer, and Mrs. Karis Spiro. Palaka Donenke, Chief Executive Officer of the company. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session, at which time, if you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. I must advise you that this conference call is being recorded today. We will now pass the floor on to one of your speakers today, Mr. Bogaris. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator. I'm Christos Begleris, Co-Chief Financial Officer at Starbuck Carriers, and I would like to welcome you to our conference call regarding our financial results for the third quarter of 2024. Before we begin, I kindly ask you to take a moment to read the safe harbor statement on slide number two of our presentation. In today's presentation, we will go through our third quarter results, Starbucks investment proposition, actions taken to create value for our shareholders, cash evolution during the quarter, an update on the Eagle Buck integration, vessel operations, fleet update, the latest on the ESG front, and our views on industry fundamentals before opening up for questions. Let us now turn to slide number three of the presentation for a summary of our third quarter 2024 highlights. For the third quarter 2024, the company reported the following. Net income amounted to 81 million with adjusted net income of 83 million or 71 cents adjusted earnings per share. Adjusted EBITDA was 143.4 million for the quarter. For the third quarter, as per our existing dividend policy, we declared a dividend per share of 60 cents payable on or about December 18, 2024. Our total liquidity today stands strong at $433 million. Meanwhile, our total debt stands at $1.3 billion. On the top right of the page, you will see our daily figures per vessel for the quarter. Our time charter equivalent rate was $18,843 per vessel per day. Our combined daily OPEX and net cash GNA expenses per vessel per day amounted to $6,376. Therefore, our TCE less OPEX and cash GNA is $12,647. Since the ECOGOT transaction was completed on April 9th this year, until the third quarter of 2024, the synergies achieved from integration resulting to more than $9 million. Integration process is advancing smoothly across all departments. Significant potential for further savings in OPEX and drive-up costs in 2025 and the remaining of 2024. Continuing to our fleet update for the quarter, during the third quarter, we have sold four vessels. Three of these vessels, namely Start Hydros, Imperial Legal, and DIVA, are expected to be delivered during the fourth quarter to their new owners for total gross proceeds of $50 million. Please turn to slide four for a summary of Starbucks' compelling value proposition. Why Starbucks? Starbucks is the largest U.S.-listed public company and second worldwide in terms of deadweight terms, specialized in dry box shipping with the highest trading liquidity. We operate a fleet of 156 vessels across all segments with an average age of 11.9 years. We operate a fleet of 80 eco-vessels and have 98% of our fleet scrubber fitted, which provides a significant competitive advantage. Starbuck has proven to be a consolidator in the dry bulk industry. Starting in 2018 through nine mergers, we have grown our fleet by 75% in number of vessels. Furthermore, we operate a fully integrated management platform that makes us the most efficient and consistently amongst the lowest OPEX and GNA operators while maintaining the highest rideship ranking. Since 2020, we have reduced our net debt per vessel by more than 50%, having reached a level where the scrap value of our fleet comfortably covers our current net debt. Since 2021, through 15 consecutive dividend payments, we have declared quarterly dividends of over $1.33 billion. We have taken advantage of historically elevated S&P values to sell some of our older and less efficient vessels using equity proceeds to buy back our shares at prices significantly below net asset value. Since 2021, we have bought back $443 million worth of Starbucks shares. Throughout the years, we have built solid corporate governance, which is shareholder-friendly by having primarily independent board members, including financial investors and other ship owners who have merged in their fleet for shares. It is important for our investors that management incentives are aligned with shareholders. Last but not least, Starbucks is an ESG-pioneering shipping. being a leader in industry's efforts to decarbonize. There is total transparency with investors, timely and efficient compliance with environmental regulations, and commitment to social responsibility. Slide five provides an overview of the company's capital allocation policy over the last three years and the various levers we have used to strengthen the company, increase the increasing value of our shares, and return capital to our shareholders. Talbot has been growing the platform through consecutive flip buyouts by issuing shares at or above MAD. In total, since 2021, we have taken actions of $2.5 billion to create value for our shareholders. On the bottom of the page, we show our net debt evolution. Our average net debt per vessel has decreased from $12.3 million per vessel to $5.7 million per vessel, a reduction of more than 50%. As a result of this deleveraging process, our current net debt is covered by the fleet scrap value. Finally, we currently have six debt-free vessels with an aggregate market value of more than $100 million. Slide 6 graphically illustrates the changes in the company's cash balance during the third quarter. We started the quarter with $486 million in cash. We generated positive cash flow from operating activities of $138 million. After including debt proceeds and repayments, capex payments, and energy saving devices and balanced water treatment system installments, and the second quarter dividend payment, we arrived at a cash balance today of $473 million. I will now pass the floor to our Chief Operating Officer, Nikos Reskos, for an update on the EagleBulk integration and the operational performance.

Thank you, Christos. Slide 7 illustrates a summary of the EagleBulk transaction integration. The technical and commercial management of the EX Eagle fleet has been established across Starbucks offices in Athens, Singapore, and Stanford, leveraging the combined global presence. The commercial teams for the Supermax and Ultramax vessels in the three continents have completed their integration successfully, managing the second-largest Supermax and Ultramax fleet globally, operating both on voyage and time-chartered basis. Cream management is gradually taken in-house, phasing out third-party managers, while technical maintenance and marine safety quality standards, processes, and policies have been applied uniformly across the combined fleet. Procurement of stores, spare parts, bunkers, and lubricants have been centralized for the combined fleet. These measures are expected to produce significant operating cost efficiencies. On the bottom of the page, you see an illustration of the synergies from Eagle Bar to integration. Through OPEX, GNA, and interest expense, as well as savings on dry dockings, we have achieved more than $9 million in cost savings. Please turn to slide 8. we will provide an operational update. OPEX was at $5,114 for Q3 2024. Net cast G&A expenses were $1,262 per vessel per day for the same period. In addition, we continue to rank at the top amongst our listed peers in terms of rideship safety score. Slide nine. provides a fleet update and some guidance around our future dry dock and the relevant total off-high days. On the bottom of the page, we provide our expected drive-off expense schedule, which for the remaining of 2024 is estimated at $18.3 million for the dry docking of 15 vessels. In total, we expect to have approximately 420 off-high days for the same period. In 2025, we expect to dry dock 47 vessels for 1,200 of our days, and an expected cost of $53.8 million. On the top right of the page, we have our CAPEX schedule, illustrating our new building CAPEX and national energy efficiency upgrade expenses, with 100% of our fleet now being balanced water equipment fitted. Based on our latest construction schedule, our new building vessels are expected In line with EEXI and CII regulations, we will continue investing in upgrading our fleet with the latest operational technologies, aimed in improving our fuel consumption and reducing our environmental footprint, further enhancing the commercial attractiveness of the Starboard fleet. Regarding our energy-saving devices retrofit program, we have completed 41 installations, with three more remaining for retrofit by the end of 2024. We plan to retrofit another 26 vessels with ESDs within next year. The above numbers are based on current estimates around dry dock and retrofit planning, vessel employment, and yard capacity. Please turn to slide 10 for an update on our fleet sales. On vessel sales front, we continue disposing of vessels opportunistically at historically attractive levels. In 2024, we have sold 13 vessels for total gross proceeds of $233 million, reducing our average age and improving overall fleet efficiency. Following the roll-over of the Eagle Bulk existing chartering contracts, we now have a total of 10 chartering vessels. As mentioned earlier, we have five firm shipbuilding contracts with Qingdao Shipyard with a construction of five Kamsa Maxx new building vessels and delivery in Q4 and first half 2026. Considering the affordation changes in our fleet mix, we operate one of the largest drive-out fleet among U.S. and European listed tiers with 156 vessels on a fully delivered basis and an average age of 11.9 years. I will now pass the floor to our Chief Strategy Officer, Alice Pliakadonaki, for an ASG update.